Assessing the New England Mind

1941 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-262
Author(s):  
Raymond P. Stearns
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Toleration ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Oliver Cromwell ◽  
American Historian

A number of factors have combined to obscure the Puritan mind from contemporary view. Until about a century ago, Puritan history both in England and America was written mostly from anti-Puritan, post-Restoration sources. Thomas Carlyle's Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell marked a turning point in this practice, and the works of Samuel Rawson Gardiner and of Sir Charles Firth gave seventeenth century English Puritanism a narrowly interpreted, but fairer, hearing. The New England Puritan, however, received little real benefit. The political historian and the economic determinist despised theology and, accordingly, lacked the chief instrument whereby to probe the Puritan mind. Moreover, the American historian, steeped in nineteenth century liberalist notions and mightily affected by the English Whig tradition in history writing, usually made the historical error of reading into the New England mind ideas which are the results of nineteenth and twentieth century experience. Accordingly, they read backward into colonial history merely to emphasize the Puritans as forerunners of religious toleration, democracy, and capitalism (all of which, in the contemporary sense, the Puritan would have abhorred from1 the bottom of his soul!). These writers refused to believe any people could be as religious as the Puritans pretended and they concluded either that Puritans were all hypocrites or that a hypocritical Puritan clergy tyrannized a defenseless people until the latter, in righteous desperation, overthrew the bigoted priests and let in the pure air of eighteenth century rationalism.

scholarly journals Archeographic Publications of Cossack Chronicles during ХVІІІ–ХХІ centuries

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Tetiana V. Voitsekhovska
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Science ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Political Concept ◽  
Social Elite ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
Photographic Reproduction

The article shows the publications of the Cossack Chronicles of Eyewitness, H. Hrabianka’s and S. Velychko’s during ХVІІІ–ХХІ centuries. During the study historical and comparative method and method of analysis and synthesis were used. The distinctive phenomenon of Ukrainian historiography of the late seventeenth – and early eighteenth-century is the so-called «Cossack chronicles». These works are products of the culture of the Cossack chancellerists of the Hetmanate, which were the new forms of history writing. Cossack chronicles deals with the political concept social elite of ХVІІІ century and cultural ideals of the Baroque period. The article contains the analysis of the publications these historical-literary compositions, their correspondence to the academic, scientific-critical or popular type of publications. The ways and methods of text transmission, which were used in the publication of the Cossack «chronicles» taking into account in edition practice of their editorial offices and numerous copies are disclosed. The scientific support of publications of Cossack «chronicles», are characterized. The article contains the analysis of the presence of comments, notes, name and geographical indications, the dictionary of obsolete words, archeographic, paleographic and textological study of the compositions, as well as information about the author’s personality in the texts of Cossack «chronicles» . Today there are several editions of Cossack Chronicles. But these publications are not intended for historians, but for a wide range of readers and do not qualify for a scientific status. Because these texts are reprints or photographic reproduction of the earlier editions of the second half of the nineteenth – early twentieth century. The publication 1971 of the Chronicle of the Eyewitness is the most qualitative publication from all the Cossack chronicles. This text is given in comparison with the corresponding fragments of the remaining copies of the composition, and this work has the obligatory attributes of academic type of the publication. Therefore modern Ukrainian historical science is in urgent need of a full-fledged scientific study and reprinting of the Cossack Chronicles of Eyewitness, H. Hrabianka’s and S. Velychko’s which was important historical narratives and compositions of the political thought of the eighteenth century.

The Proposal in the Pre-Revolutionary Decade for Establishing Anglican Bishops in the Colonies

1962 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Sosin
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Religious Toleration ◽  
Glorious Revolution ◽  
The South ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
Mother Country ◽  
The Glorious Revolution

Time supposedly heals all wounds, but the religious strife between Puritans and Anglicans in the seventeenth century had left a bitter legacy in the minds of the New England Congregationalist ministers. Even after the Glorious Revolution of 1688–9 had in time brought the principle of religious toleration for the protestant sects in the mother country, the animosities of the Stuart regime still evoked suspicion and distrust in the minds of those in New England whose ancestors had left England to found their Zion in the wilderness. But many years had passed since the days of archbishop William Laud, the Clarendon code and the policy of conformity. Although Anglicanism was dominant in England, by the middle of the eighteenth century it was tempered by the principle of toleration for dissenting protestants. But in New England those professing the Anglican faith were a minority among the Congregationalist offspring of the founding puritan fathers. Even in those provinces to the south where it represented the majority of the colonists the Anglican Church suffered from one great defect. There were no resident bishops in America; consequently, those colonists who wished to be ordained as ministers must make the long, expensive, and often hazardous journey to England. Few could undertake such a trip so that most of the Anglican clergy in the colonies came from the mother country.

THOMAS HOBBES AND THE BLACKLOIST CONSPIRACY OF 1649

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEFFREY R. COLLINS
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Toleration ◽  
Alternative Theory ◽  
Oliver Cromwell ◽  
Intellectual Influence

In a jarring passage toward the conclusion of Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes endorsed the abolition of episcopacy and the establishment of an Independent religious settlement within England. Most historians have ignored this feature of Leviathan, or have dismissed it as an off-hand aside of no consequence. Others, more plausibly, have construed it as part of a royalist scheme (encouraged by Queen Henrietta Maria and her supporters) to secure a Stuart Restoration by allying with the English Independents. This article offers an alternative theory. It argues that Hobbes's attentions were probably drawn to Independency by the political machinations of a group of idiosyncratic Catholics gathered around the philosopher-priest, Thomas White (alias Blacklo). In 1649, White and his ‘Blackloist’ followers engaged in secret negotiations with Oliver Cromwell. In exchange for religious toleration for Catholics, the Blackloists promised allegiance to the Commonwealth and conformity to a Congregationalist religious settlement. This article examines Hobbes's close personal links with the leading Blackloists, documents similarities in their reactions to Independency, establishes the strong intellectual influence Leviathan had on Blackloist tracts, and demonstrates that royalists consistently linked Hobbes with the Blackloist treason. The article concludes that the Blackloist plot to betray the Stuart cause, rather than any royalist scheme to strike a deal with the Independents, provides the most compelling contextual explanation for Thomas Hobbes's endorsement of Independency.

An Early Colonial Historian: John Oldmixon andThe British Empire in America

1973 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pat Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
British Empire ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century

For many years, Arthur M. Schlesinger observed, the American colonists were too occupied with living the present to explore their own past. Such historical works as were written generally confined themselves to a single province. Perhaps the most important intercolonial work of the early eighteenth century was compiled by an Englishman: Daniel Neal'sHistory of New-England(1720). In theNew Cambridge Bibliography of English Literaturethe entry for Neal is immediately preceded by that for John Oldmixon (1673–1742), miscellaneous Whig compiler and butt of the Tory wits. This may serve as a reminder that Oldmixon, too, wrote a pioneering work of colonial history – a flawed, prolix but deeply interesting book which merits more scrupulous attention than it generally gets.

The Gallic Singularity and the Royal Mistress

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-66
Author(s):  
Christine Adams
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Marie Antoinette ◽  
Louis Xvi ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Realm

The relationship of the French king and royal mistress, complementary but unequal, embodied the Gallic singularity; the royal mistress exercised a civilizing manner and the soft power of women on the king’s behalf. However, both her contemporaries and nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historians were uncomfortable with the mistress’s political power. Furthermore, paradoxical attitudes about French womanhood have led to analyses of her role that are often contradictory. Royal mistresses have simultaneously been celebrated for their civilizing effect in the realm of culture, chided for their frivolous expenditures on clothing and jewelry, and excoriated for their dangerous meddling in politics. Their increasing visibility in the political realm by the eighteenth century led many to blame Louis XV’s mistresses—along with Queen Marie-Antoinette, who exercised a similar influence over her husband, Louis XVI—for the degradation and eventual fall of the monarchy. This article reexamines the historiography of the royal mistress.

Searching for Political Parties in the Past

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piero Ignazi
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Common

Chapter 1 introduces the long and difficult process of the theoretical legitimation of the political party as such. The analysis of the meaning and acceptance of ‘parties’ as tools of expressing contrasting visions moves forward from ancient Greece and Rome where (democratic) politics had first become a matter of speculation and practice, and ends up with the first cautious acceptance of parties by eighteenth-century British thinkers. The chapter explores how parties or factions have been constantly considered tools of division of the ‘common wealth’ and the ‘good society’. The holist and monist vision of a harmonious and compounded society, stigmatized parties and factions as an ultimate danger for the political community. Only when a new way of thinking, that is liberalism, emerged, was room for the acceptance of parties set.

The Swiss and their Neighbours, 1460-1560

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Scott
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
The Political ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Political Principle ◽  
Mutual Obligation ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Identity

Renewed interest in Swiss history has sought to overcome the old stereotypes of peasant liberty and republican exceptionalism. The heroic age of the Confederation in the fifteenth century is now seen as a turning point as the Swiss polity achieved a measure of institutional consolidation and stability, and began to mark out clear frontiers. This book questions both assumptions. It argues that the administration of the common lordships by the cantons collectively gave rise to as much discord as cooperation, and remained a pragmatic device not a political principle. It argues that the Swiss War of 1499 was an avoidable catastrophe, from which developed a modus vivendi between the Swiss and the Empire as the Rhine became a buffer zone, not a boundary. It then investigates the background to Bern’s conquest of the Vaud in 1536, under the guise of relieving Geneva from beleaguerment, to suggest that Bern’s actions were driven not by predeterminate territorial expansion but by the need to halt French designs upon Geneva and Savoy. The geopolitical balance of the Confederation was fundamentally altered by Bern’s acquisition of the Vaud and adjacent lands. Nevertheless, the political fabric of the Confederation, which had been tested to the brink during the Reformation, proved itself flexible enough to absorb such a major reorientation, not least because what held the Confederation together was not so much institutions as a sense of common identity and mutual obligation forged during the Burgundian Wars of the 1470s.

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